Ball-and-socket gearing



Nov. 4, 1947. D. R. LlGH 2,430,129

' I BALL AND SOCKET GEARING Original Filed Jan. 13, 1944 2 Sheets-sheafl VINVENTOR. DAV/D la IJGH Nov. 4, 1947." D. R. LIGH BALL AND SOCKETGEABING Original'Filed Jan. 13, 1944 2 Sheets-Shet2 N INVENTOR. mwo 2?.L/G'l/ Patented Nov. 4, 1947 BA LL-AND-SOCKET GEARING David R. Ligh,Stamford, Conn., assignor to Darli Industrial Management, Inc., NewYork, N. Y.

Original application January 13, 1944, Serial No.

Divided and this application March 5, 1945, Serial No. 581,052

6 Claims. (Cl. 74-416) 1 This application is a division of the U. S.patent application Serial No. 518,058, filed January 13, 1944, entitledFlexible coupling.

My present invention relates to flexible shaft couplings and moreparticularl to the construction of male and female gear members for suchcouplings.

It is an object of my present invention to provide improved flexiblecouplings which are adapted to transmit relatively great forces.

It is a further object of my present invention to provide flexible shaftcouplings in which the motion transmitting gears are only slightlysubjected to wear during operation.

It is another object of my present invention to provide a new type ofball and socket gear tooth construction.

It is still another object of my present invention to provide a flexiblecoupling in which the motion transmitting shafts can be turned relativeto each other between two end positions differing from each other by 90with substantially equal stress on the motion transmitting parts of thegears forming the coupling.

With the above objects in view, my present invention mainly consists ofa flexible coupling composed of two shafts, a male gear at the end ofone shaft and a female gear at the end of the other shaft; each of thesegears comprises a gear body having an at least substantially circularfront face and an at least substantially cylindrical peripheral face;the male gear mentioned above is provided with equally spaced elongatedprojections arranged along the periphery of its front face extending inradial direction thereof and the female gear is provided with equallyspaced corresponding elongated depressions along the periphery of itsfront face extending in radial direction of this face and opening alsoon the peripheral face of the female gear.

The elongated projections arranged on the front face of the male gearare preferably semipear shaped and arranged with their widest parts nearthe periphery of the front face of the male gear. The term semi-pearshaped as used above and in the following description and claims isintended to define a shape obtained by dividing a pear lengthwise; thethus obtained shape will be longitudinal and wider near one end thannear the other. Furthermore, it is preferable to make those surfaceportions of the front face of this male gear which are located betweenthe above mentioned projections inclined toward the peripheral face ofthis gear so as to improve its meshwith the corresponding female gear.

On the female gear, those surface portions of the front face which liebetween the above mentioned elongated depressions are slightly raised,thus fitting into the recesses in.the front face of the correspondingmale gear which are formed by the inclination of this front face alongits periphcry.

The novel features which I consider as characteristic for my inventionare set forth in particular in the appended claims. The inventionitself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a male gear;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a female gear;

Fig. 3 is a cross section through a male and female gear being in meshwith each other, along lines 33 of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is another cross section of a male and female gear being in meshwith each other, along line 4-4 of Figs. 1 and 2.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the new coupling consists of a male gear I0and a female gear II being in mesh with each other. The male gear If) issecured to the end of shaft I2 by means of screw I3 and the female gearI I is secured to the end of shaft I4 by means of a screw I5. It isevident and needs no further explanation that the two shafts I2, I3 canbe turned relative to each other about a pivoting axis IE withoutdisengage-' ment of the gears I0 and I I.

The male gear I consists of a gear body I'I having a substantiallycircular front face I8 and an annular or cylindrical peripheral face I9.Substantially semi-pear shaped projections 20 are arranged on front faceI8 of the male gear Ill equally spaced from each other, as shown inFig. 1. The widest portions 2! of these projections 20 are located nearperiphery 22 of the front face Furthermore, I wish to mention that theseelongated semi-pear shaped projections 20 are arranged in radialdirection, i. e. facing with their narrow end 23 the center 24 of frontface I8.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the surface portions 25 of front faceI8 of the male gear II! which are located between the projections 20 areinclined toward the peripheral face I9. These surface portions 25 formtogether a conical surface strip arranged concentrically about the axis26 of the male gear I. As indicated in Fig, 4 by numeral 27, thisconical surface increases the surface of the side faces 23 of theprojections 20, thus enabling better mesh of these projections with thecorresponding depressions on the female gear H. This conical taperedsurface 25 might extend to the peripheral face is; however, in order notto weaken the body I! of the male gear l unnecessarily, I provideadjacent to the peripheral face 19 a face 29 arranged parallel to thefront face if The female gear H shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 comprises alsoa gear body 35, havin a front face 3| and a peripheral face 32. Thisfemale gear H is provided with depressions 33 arranged in the front face3! of this gear along the periphery 3 3 of the same opening on both thisfront face 3| and the peripheral face 32, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.These depressions 33 are of substantially oblong shape and arranged inthe front face 3! along the periphery and entirely below the plane ofthe same extending in radial direction thereof.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3, each of these depressions 33 iscomposed of a substantially cupshaped inner surface portion 38 and anouter surface portion 39 continually merging into said inner surfaceportion 38; thus, these inner and outer surface portions form onecontinuous surface.

As shown in Fig. 3, the depth of the outer surface portion in axialdirection of the gear-which depth is determined by the distance betweenline All designating the bottom of the outer surface portion 39 and line3! designating the front face of gear I l-is substantially equal to themaximal depth of the cup-shaped inner surface portion 38-which maximaldepth is determined by the distance between point 3! designating thebottom of the cup-shaped inner surface portion 38 and line 3!designating the front face of gear M. It is evident from the drawingthat these two distances are at least substantially equal to each other,as described above.

Furthermore, the depth of this outer surface portion 39 in axialdirection of gear H is substantially constant from the inner surfaceportion 38 to the peripheral face 32 of the gear. This is clearly shownin Fig. 3 in which line 43 designating the bottom of the outer surfaceportion 39 is substantially parallel to line 3! designating the frontface of gear l i from point at where the outer surface portion 35 mergesinto the inner surface portion 38 to point 42 where the outer surfaceportion 35 is opening into the peripheral face 32. This is of course aclear indication of the fact that the depth of the outer surface portion(iii-determined by the distance of line (iii and line 34 from eachotheris substantially constant from point ll to point if, i. e. from theinner surface portion 33 to the peripheral face Furthermore the outersurface portion to of the depression e3 has a width normal to the radialdirection in which the depression extends which at the inner end of theouter surface portion 39 where the same merges into the substantiallycup-shaped inner surface portion 38 is equal to the width of this innersurface portion 38 and increases toward the outer end 35 of the outersurface portion 33 where the same opens into the peripheral face 32 sothat the width of the outer surface portion 38 is substantially greaterat the periphery of the front face 35 than where it merges into theinner surface portion 38. This is also clearly shown in Fig. 2, wherethe distance between points 23 and M indicates the inner width of theouter surface portion 39, i. e. its

width where it merges into the inner surface portion 38 and the distancebetween the points and 45 indicates the outer width of the outer surfaceportion 38, i. e. its width Where it opens into the peripheral face 32.Since this distance between the points 5 5 and 46 is substantiallygreater than the distance between the points 43 and 44, it is evidentthat the width of the outer surface portion increases as stated above.Of course, from this fact it also follows that the width of thedepression 33 increases from its innor end 33 toward its outer end 35and at its outer end is about twice as great as near its inner end 35.

These depressions 33 of the female gear ll engage the projections 23 ofthe male gear M as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It is evident from thesefigures that by shaping the depressions and projections as proposedherewith, engagement of the same is greatly improved.

I may also provide between the depressions 33 on the front face 3! ofthis female gear ll small slightly raised surface portions 371'. Duringoperation of the ears, these raised portions 31 of the front face 3iengage the side faces 28 of the projections 29 on the male gear Iithereby increasing the motion transmitting contact between the twogears.

I wish to mention explicitly that the single elements of my abovedescribed gears have also certain advantages independently from eachother: Thus, operative engagement of cooperating gears is increased byshaping the projections 20 in the manner described above, also withoutproviding tapered surface portions 25 between the same; on the otherhand, such tapered surface portions 25 on the male gear Iii also havecertain advantages in combination with the raised surface portions 31 onthe female gear ii, independentl from the shape of the projections 25.However, I wish to stress that I have found the combination claimedherewith particularly advantageous and the same constitutes one of thepreferred embodiments of my present invention.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types offlexible couplings differing from the types described above.

While I have illustrated and described the invention as embodied in balland socket type of flexible couplings, I do not intend to be limited tothe details shown, since various modifications and structural changesmay be made without departing in any way from the spirit of myinvention.

Without fuitheranalysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofmy invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adaptit for various applications without omitting features that, from thestandpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics ofthe generic or specific aspects of this invention, and there fore, suchadaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within themeaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A female gear comprising a gear body having a at least substantiallycircular flat front face and an at least substantially cylindricalperipheral face, said female gear being provided with equally spacedoblong depressions in said front face arranged along the peripher andentirely below the plane of the same and extendin in radial directionthereof and having a greater radial dimension than circumferentialdimension, each of said depressions having a surface composed of aninner substantially cup-shaped surface portion and an outersubstantially conical surface portion merging into one continuous smoothsurface, said inner substantially cupshaped surface portion beinglocated nearer to the center of said front face than said outersubstantially conical surface portion which latter is located at theperiphery of said front face opening on said front face and also on saidperipheral face of said gear.

2. A female gear comprising a gear body having a front face and aperipheral face and being provided with equally spaced OblOngdepressions in said front face extending in radial direction andarranged along the periphery of said front face and having a greaterradial dimension than circumferential dimension, each of saiddepressions being composed of a substantially cupshaped inner surfaceportion and an outer surface portion continually merging into eachother, said outer surface portion having a depth being substantiallyconstant from said substantially cup-shaped surface portion to saidperipheral face while its width increases from said substantiallycup-shaped surface portion to said peripheral face.

3. A female gear comprising a gear body having a front face and aperipheral face and being provided with equally spaced oblongdepressions in said front face extending in radial direction andarranged along the periphery of said front face and having a greaterradial dimension than circumferential dimension, each of saiddepressions being composed of a substantially cup-shaped inner surfaceportion and an outer surface portion continually merging into eachother, said outer surface portion having a depth in axial direction ofsaid gear which is at least substantially equal to the maximal depth ofsaid cupshaped inner surface portion in the same direction andsubstantially constant from this inner surface portion to the peripheralface of said gear and having a width normal to said radial directionincreasing from this inner surface portion to the peripheral face ofsaid gear.

4. A female gear comprising a gear body having a front face and aperipheral face and being provided with equally spaced oblongdepressions in said front face extending in radial direction andarranged along the periphery of said front face and having a greaterradial dimension than circumferential dimension, each of saiddepressions having a substantially constant depth which is substantiallyconstant from a point near the inner end of said depression to the outerend thereof and a width increasing from said point near said inner endof said depression to the outer end thereof where said depression isopening in said peripheral face of said gear.

5. A female gear comprising a gear body having a front face and aperipheral face and being provided with equally spaced oblongdepressions in said front face extending in radial direction andarranged along the periphery of said front face and having a greaterradial dimension than circumferential dimension, each of saiddepressions being composed of a substantially cup-shaped inner surfaceportion and an outer surface portion continually merging into eachother, said outer surface portion having a depth being substantiallyconstant from said substantially cupshaped surface portion to saidperipheral face and a width normal to said radial direction which is atthe inner end of said outer surface portion where the same merges intosaid substantially cup-shaped inner surface portion equal to the widthof said inner surface portion and increases toward the outer end of saidouter surface portion Where the same opens into said peripheral face sothat the width of said outer surface portion is substantially greater atthe periphery of said front face than where it merges into said innersurface portion.

6. A female gear comprising a gear body having a front face and aperipheral face and being provided with equally spaced oblongdepressions in said front face extending in radial direction andarranged along the periphery of said front face and having a greaterradial dimension than circumferential dimension, each of saiddepressions being composed of a substantially cup-shaped inner surfaceportion and an outer surface portion continually merging into eachother,said outer surface portion having a depth in axial direction of saidgear which is at least substantially equal to the maximal depth of saidcupshaped inner surface portion in the same direction and substantiallyconstant from this inner surface portion to the peripheral face of saidgear and having a width normal to said radial direction which is at theinner end of said outer surface portion where the same merges into saidsubstantially cup-shaped inner surface portion equal to the width ofsaid inner surface portion and increases toward the outer end of saidouter surface portion where the same opens into said peripheral face sothat the width of said outer surface portion is substantially greater atthe periphery of said front face than where it merges into said innersurface portion.

DAVID R. LIGH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,378,564 Ligh June 19, 19452,315,589 Brooks Apr, 6, 1943

